


Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

by vix_spes



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 19:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone once said, 'To write well, you have to write what you know.' Well, here is what I know...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

**Author's Note:**

> Written for reel_merlin for which the movie I picked was Never Been Kissed. Huge thanks to thedragonsinger, tari_sue, jakoby and the entirety of Merlin_Chat for all their help and encouragement with this.

“You know in some movies they have a dream sequence, only they don't tell you it's a dream? This is so not a dream. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was just trying to do my job and then things happened. Well, life happened and now I'm here.”

Here was stood on the pitcher’s mound of a baseball field with five minutes on the clock, hoping that his gamble paid off. Hoping that Arthur had, by some miraculous chance, read his article and believed what Merlin had written. Hoping that Arthur would turn up and that he wouldn’t be left looking like the fool. Hoping that he wouldn’t be the one left by himself. 

Again.

(~*~)

 “Trust me; I'm not the kind of guy that does things like this. I mean, two months ago you couldn't have picked me out of a crowd. Told you. I'm over there. The skinny guy with the messy hair that blends into the crowd. No, not that one. The one wearing the long-sleeved t-shirt with the checked shirt over the top. I was the youngest copy-editor at the Chicago Sun-Times.”

He loved his job – most of the time – but Merlin couldn’t help but still nurture that hope that he would one day not just be a copy-editor but a fully-fledged journalist. Still, at least he was working in journalism which was better than nothing. Merlin had barely stepped foot on the floor that he worked on before he was besieged by an intern asking questions.

“Merlin.”

“Hello.” 

“Theatre?”

“Standard American calls for e-r, standard English calls for r-e. So, unless you're a pompous American, I would go with e-r.”

“I had my own office, unlimited stationary supplies and a professional, dedicated assistant.” Not that said assistant was dedicated to anything except himself. Cedric spent more time talking to his friends on the phone and gossiping than doing any actual work. Take today’s topic of phone conversation for example. 

“How about this awesome new phrase? Power is powerful. Total t-shirt. Awesome, right?” 

Merlin stood there for several minutes in the hope that Cedric would actually notice him and do his job; anything that meant Merlin didn’t have to be confrontational. He really wasn’t good at that or sticking up for himself. If Cedric were Morgana’s assistant he wouldn’t have lasted five minutes in the building. No, Cedric was definitely ignoring him. Merlin was just going to have to bite the bullet. “Can I get my messages?” 

“Yeah.” Cedric turned back to the conversation he was having on the phone. “Hey, seriously, last time I saw you, did I look fat? Okay, you hesitated. No, it's case-closed. Forget about it...” 

“Excuse me, Cedric, there aren't any index cards, so I can't do my notes...” **  
**

Merlin could tell from the look on Cedric’s face that he was essentially talking to a blank slate. He knew that Cedric thought that he was a joke, that most of the floor thought that he was a joke but he didn’t know what he could do to change that. He was just going to have to go and find the index cards himself at lunch. He had barely turned away from the desk before Cedric was back on the phone to one of his simpering little friends. **  
**

“Yeah, my boss. I'm just a little tense. This office is so not feng shui. All the desks are facing, like, evil. Do you think I should bleach my teeth? Some sunshine around the mouth? Or maybe I should just laser my gums.” 

Merlin could still hear Cedric gossiping away to his friend as he moved into his office, pausing briefly to adjust the name-plate on his door so that it was lying straight once again. Another inane habit that he knew people in the office found ridiculous but that he still felt compelled to do. He straightened a couple of things on his desk and relished the peace and quiet that seemed to exist in his office, despite the hustle and bustle beyond the door. 

And then of course, his peace and quiet was shattered. But this at least he could deal with. 

“Merlin! Guess who I did it with last night?” 

He smiled as Morgana slammed her way into his office. She was another of the crazy ex-pats that Merlin had found himself working with at the Chicago Sun-Times. She was Merlin's best friend yet she couldn’t be more different to him. Morgana LeFay was beautiful, glamorous and a complete shark of a journalist who never failed to get the story that she wanted. Originally from Dublin, she had wanted to escape her family and, London being too close for her liking, had found herself in Chicago. All to Merlin’s benefit, as she had adopted him as soon as he started working for the paper. He spoke again as long red nails started to tap against the door frame; patience had never been Morgana’s strong suit. 

“Percival from Op/Ed?” 

He laughed as Morgana pouted, slumping down into the chair that Merlin kept by the door. “Awww … no fun. Who told you?” 

“You did. You said yesterday, and I quote, 'Tonight I have a date with Percival in Op/Ed and I'm going to do it with him'. Something about wanting to lick his biceps?” 

He smiled as enlightenment dawned on Morgana, even as he struggled not to blush as he recalled the previous day’s conversation. He just couldn't understand her sometimes. She was his closest friend and he loved her dearly but he just couldn't understand the way that she slept her way around the company. Especially when he was convinced that she was in love with Leon. The only people that she didn’t seem to sleep with were married. 

“Copier's down. Septuplet story. I need it by five. Hopefully the copy's not a mess.” Speak of the devil. 

“I hope it's not a mess. Hopefully is an adverb, it means 'with hope'. You have it defining the copy and I'm pretty sure the copy doesn't have feelings.” Merlin laughed a little as he spoke, only for the smile to fade as both Leon and Morgana gave him unimpressed looks. 

“So Morgana, you and Percival in Op/Ed?” 

“Oh man, who told you?” 

“Percival in Op/Ed.” 

Whoops! Maybe that had been a mistake. Merlin had forgotten that Leon and Percival were friends outside of work so he supposed it was no wonder that Leon knew he and Morgana had slept together. What man wouldn’t want to brag that he’d slept with Morgana? Well, except for Merlin. But then he could recognise how beautiful she was and he wasn’t even into women; if he were then he would probably want to sleep with her as well. 

“Oh really.” Morgana mumbled under her breath and while it was inaudible, you didn’t have to hear it to know that it wasn’t complimentary about Percival. “What? Did you have something to say Leon?” 

“Morgana, don't make me send you another memo about my policy on inter-office dating.” 

“Its intra-office dating and they're not in a relationship, they're having sex.” Merlin couldn't actually remember the last time that Morgana had actually been in a relationship; she tended to favour one night stands wherever possible. Something about how everything was always on her terms and how no man controlled her. 

“And what exactly is your policy _Leon_ huh? If you're not getting any, no-one can? Hmm?” With that Morgana sauntered out of the office. 

“How many times have I fired her again?” 

“Five or six?” If he was honest, Merlin was starting to lose count. As evidenced when Morgana popped her head around the door to correct him. 

“Eight.” 

As Leon left his office, Merlin followed him. “Leon? Did you get those story ideas that I left on your desk?” 

“Morning Mr Knight.” Cedric was simply ignored as Leon carried on walking down the corridor. 

“Yeah, the blind foster-home mother. Story was good. I've got Calhoun on it.” 

“Oh yeah Calhoun. He's good.” 

“Emrys, we've been through this. You're a great copy-editor, you may be my best copy-editor but you're not a reporter.” 

“You've used five of my ideas. Leon, please.” Merlin hurried to keep up with Leon as he strode through the office. 

“Every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he can write but a _journalist_ gets in there. Right where the bombs are falling. He's aggressive; he grabs the bull by the balls.” 

“You don't think I can grab the bull's balls?” 

By this point, they had made a full circuit of the office and had returned to Merlin’s office, Leon leaning against the wall as he gave his final piece of advice. 

“Emrys, you don't want a reporter’s life. Trust me. They're very messy and you're all about order and control and getting me my copy by five.” 

“I can be out of control.” 

Leon didn't bother to respond. Instead, all he did was to snort and tweak the nameplate on the door of Merlin's office so that it was hanging crooked before he walked off down the corridor. 

“Copy by five.” 

As soon as he knew that Leon wasn't watching, Merlin moved the nameplate back so that it was straight. Just because he needed to have the nameplate on his office door straight didn't mean that he couldn't do out of control. He didn't know what Leon was talking about. Just before he entered his office again he pointedly ignored the smirking Cedric who was tapping a coffee mug emblazoned with the caption 'Get a Clue'. 

~*~

 “Merlin, maybe Leon has a point. You know, it's not going to kill you to relax and have some fun. Hey! You know Percival's got this friend Ewan in Editing. Maybe we could all go on a double date or something?” 

“Ewan, “the Duke”?” 

“I swear to God, Merlin, come on. Tell me, when is the last time you went on a real live date?” 

“I'm concentrating on my career right now.” 

“Do you own any coloured underwear? Stripes or anything?” 

“The right guy, he's out there. I'm just not going to go and kiss a whole bunch of losers to get to him.” 

“Yeah but you know what? Sometimes kissing losers can be a really fun diversion.” 

That was where Merlin and Morgana differed completely and utterly, even where Merlin and Elena differed. Morgana had probably slept with half of the male staff on the Sun Times and dated (very briefly) the other half while Elena had a boyfriend that she'd been with for several years. Merlin, on the other hand, had never had a single relationship. His years at high school had been so completely miserable and he was so swamped by his insecurities after a brutal rebuttal that he had never had a romance, despite wanting one. He just didn't want the whole world knowing that, at twenty five years old, Merlin had never even been kissed. 

“Okay, if you've never kissed a guy before we have bigger problems than the underwear.” 

“I've kissed a guy before. I've kissed guys. I just … haven't felt that thing.” 

“That thing? Is that what you kids calling it these days?”

‘You kids’. Had Morgana honestly just said that? She wasn’t more than two years older than he was – nothing that would warrant her calling him a kid. 

“When I finally get kissed I'll know.” He was convinced of that at least and he realised what he had just said. How was he going to get out of this? Merlin paused for thought before he spoke, wondering if he could actually say this but then figured that seeing as it was Morgana and Elena he'd be fine and neither of them would mock him. Despite Morgana's cynicism and sleeping around she was a romantic at heart and Elena was just a romantic full stop. 

“It's just that thing, that moment, when you kiss someone and everything around becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person. And you realise that that person is the only person that you're supposed to kiss for the rest of your life. And for one moment you get this amazing gift and you want to laugh and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that it will go away all at the same time.” 

He shut up pretty quickly, blinking away the tears in his eyes, as he saw that Morgana and Elena were just staring at him in mute shock and then blushed furiously as Elena shook her head and gave that throaty laugh of hers that he loved so much. 

“Damn boy … you are a writer.” 

He didn't bother to respond to that comment. He didn't feel much like a writer. How could he when his story ideas were always passed on to other people and he was only ever allowed to edit and never actually write anything. Writing had always been the only thing that he had ever wanted to do but at the same time, it felt as though the only person who had believed that he could do this was his. Not even Gwaine or Morgana seemed to believe in him like his mum had mum and he had never wished for her more than he did now. He swore to himself that he would phone her when he got home from work that night. 

(~*~)

 “Ok, I'm finished. What do you think? Where do you think it should go?”

The ‘it’ in question was embroidery, in this case an embroidered cushion. Not the pursuit that everybody expected of him, nor the most masculine, but with Hunith being a single, working mother everybody had had to pitch in with household chores. Merlin had drawn the short straw with helping out with sewing but had discovered that he was actually good at it and, not only that, but that it was also rather therapeutic. Merlin was well-aware that he was more than a little bit sad sitting home sewing and talking to his cat, Mordred, but considering his lack of social life it was either talk to Mordred or talk to himself. Mordred was infinitely better because he at least responded from time to time, regardless of whether or not Merlin actually understood.

Mordred had been Merlin’s first purchase when he moved out of his mum’s home and into a place of his own. He’d never had a wide circle of friends and, even though he had made friends upon starting at the paper, he wasn’t a hugely social person. He certainly wasn’t a fan of going out to the bars and clubs like Morgana and he certainly didn’t have her confidence. Faced with long evenings home alone, he had visited the local animal shelter and had fallen in love with Mordred immediately. A tiny black kitten with huge blue eyes, what Mordred lacked in size he more than made up for in sass and Merlin’s time at home had improved dramatically. He was still very aware of the fact that he was twenty-five years old, he spent too much time at work, he didn’t have that many friends, he didn’t have a boyfriend and he had never been kissed.

It didn’t exactly fill him with enthusiasm. Or that much hope for the future. 

~*~

Compared to stories that Merlin had heard about other newspaper owners, Alined was a very hands on boss, more hands on than others. He didn’t like to leave things up to his editors and often made the decision about what stories were going to run. In some respects that was great. The man had had a long career in journalism and just knew what stories were going to work. Unfortunately, he was also incredibly ruthless. To absolutely everybody. Nowhere was that more obvious than in the meetings that he held every day. Take that day’s meeting for example, two days after Merlin’s attempts to ask Leon for the opportunity to do some _real_ reporting had been shot down in flames yet again. He snuck in behind Morgana, taking a seat next to her and _the_ Percival from Op/Ed. Today was going to be a barrel of laughs. He did his best not to jump as Alined slammed his hand down on the desk loudly.

“The meeting just began. Let me start by saying I was very impressed with that investigative piece that Dutton did on pesticides in our supermarkets. But since the Trib did a piece on the same subject, only better, you're fired.”

“Huh?”

Merlin watched wide-eyed as Alined fired yet another reporter.  This was the fourth in as many weeks. The man was ruthless, absolutely ruthless. It was only in these meetings that Merlin ever doubted himself and his desire to become a reporter. He knew that the doubt Leon expressed was never down to his abilities but rather down to not wanting Merlin to be hurt. He was just trying to be a friend. And the thing was, as much as Merlin made out that he was a hard-nosed reporter, impervious to everything, he really wasn’t. If he were fired in the same way that Alined had just fired Dutton, to Merlin it would feel like the end of the world and he would probably struggle to pick himself back up. 

“Dutton, did you hear me? You're fired. Out. Close your cubicle. Bye-bye Dutton. Hello everybody else still working here. Let's celebrate by doing another undercover feature! Now, you know that my inspiration for these stories comes, of course, from my personal life. I mean, who would have thought that my foray into hair plugs would have resulted in last month's cover story? “Hair today, gone tomorrow”. A great story. Last night, I'm sitting at home with my family, having dinner.” 

Next to Merlin, Morgana started to flirt outrageously with Percival, ignoring the fact that Alined had just fired somebody in front of them. Merlin’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Morgana pull down her already low-cut shirt before casually leaning over in front of Percival who, judging by the look on his face, appreciated the view. Leon’s eyes also tried to pop out of his skull but, unlike Percival who had no qualms about looking his fill, Leon was desperately trying to look at anywhere but Morgana. Merlin could also see Leon’s hands clenching convulsively on the table and he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of game Morgana was playing at. He knew that she liked Leon, _he just knew it_ , so why did she intend on flirting like she did and being so flirtatious in front of Leon? Especially with Percival who was one of Leon’s closest friends at work. He turned his attention back to Alined, as the man’s voice became even louder than it had been previously. 

“And my younger boy starts to choke! Then I realised my son was allergic to peanuts. I said to myself: “Holy shit! I don't even know my own kids. How much do we know about these high school kids? What are they thinking? And then it hit me. “My semester in high school”. You! What's your name?” 

Oh god, Alined was pointing at Merlin. He was actually pointing at Merlin. Next to him, Morgana stopped flirting and turned her attention to what was going on. He felt like he was going to throw up but he couldn't do that and embarrass himself in front of everyone, in front of Leon and Morgana. But then neither could he remain silent, Alined would never allow it. 

“M-Me-Merlin.” 

“Mervyn?” 

“Merlin Emrys!” 

“Merlin Emrys, you enrol Friday. Have fun! The meeting just ended.” 

As soon as Alined had left, Merlin was up and fleeing the room with Morgana right behind him, making for the safety of his office. 

“Merlin!” 

“Uh … it's really happening! My first undercover feature by Merlin Emrys!” 

“Merlin, maybe you should turn it down.” 

“Why? You don't think I can do it?” 

“No! It's just that this is a lot of pressure for your first piece. That's all. I mean, this is not a half-a-page article. This is a major undercover piece. I mean, look what Alined just did to Dutton, and he's his cousin.” 

Leon strode into the room just as Morgana finished speaking. “Don't worry Merlin. I'm going to straighten this all out.” 

“Neither of you guys think that I can do this.” Merlin couldn’t help but feel hurt that the two people he felt closest to at work, two people that he considered to be friends, didn’t believe that he could do this. That they didn’t have enough faith in him to believe that he could pull this story off. 

“We're not saying that.” 

“Yes you are. Neither of you believe that I can do this but you’re wrong. Morgana, when you wanted to seduce the mailroom guy and you thought you couldn't learn Spanish fast enough, who quizzed you on your verbs?” 

Morgana looked shamefaced as she answered “Señor Merlin.” 

“And Leon, when you wanted to learn how to knit, who showed you how to work the needles?” Oh Leon was going to kill Merlin for bringing this up, especially with Morgana in the room. Morgana never forgot anything that could be potential blackmail material. 

“You did.” 

“You knit?” 

Oh God, Morgana hadn’t wasted any time in jumping on that little nugget of information. Merlin needed to do some damage control and fast.

“This is my chance.”

“Well I'm not holding your job for you Emrys.” Leon uncomfortably endured Merlin's bouncing and the first hug before he disengaged himself.

“Don't make me give you my memo on inter-office hugging. Now comes the hard part.” 

There was no denying that. Merlin hadn’t thought this through at all. He was really going to go back to high school and pretend that he was seventeen again. Just the thought of going back to high school sent shivers down Merlin’s smile and not the good kind either. Still, he had said that he would do this and he was determined to do it and not only that, but do it well. 

“Oh my god, you get to be seventeen again. Wow. Okay, what's the first thing you're going to need?” Morgana was practically bouncing in her enthusiasm as she started listing things that Merlin needed and everything that he was going to need. 

Well, at least one of them was excited. Merlin was verging more towards hyper-ventilation and panic rather than enthusiasm. 

~*~

The first person out of work that Merlin told about his new assignment was his brother, Gwaine. Not his brother by blood but that didn’t matter to Merlin. Gwaine had been one of the best people to come into Merlin’s life. Merlin’s mum, Hunith, had moved herself and her young son out to the States when Merlin was barely four years old. Neither of them knew where his father, Balinor, was only that he had gone missing years ago, not long after Merlin’s second birthday. A couple of years after their arrival in the States, Hunith had started fostering children and a large number of children had passed through their doors during Merlin’s childhood. All of them had been treated exactly the same regardless of whether they had stayed permanently, for a short period of time or just one night. Some had made more of an impact than others. Amongst the temporary residents had been Audrey and a brother and sister pair called Tristan and Isolde – Gwaine had made jokes about that until several pointed comments had been about people in class houses not throwing stones. Gwaine had been the first permanent member of the Emrys family with Hunith adopting him when he and Merlin were nine years old. Jonas and Ethan had both arrived when Gwaine and Merlin were thirteen, two brothers who had stayed for six months until they were both old enough to leave the foster system. Then there had been Sefa and Finna who had lived with them for several years but had never been adopted. Another brother and sister pair, Daegal and Kara, had lived with them for nearly a year before being adopted by friends of Hunith’s, Gaius and Alice, both of whom had acted as honorary grandparents to both Gwaine and Merlin. 

Gwaine and Merlin may have been the same age but they couldn’t be more different. Gwaine was the popular one, both with men and women alike. A stalwart of the sports teams and a complete party animal, he had never struggled for friends or a social life. Studying had never been high on Gwaine’s radar and he had only done enough work to ensure that he didn’t get thrown out of any of the teams. Even the thought of him going into the library would bring him out in a rash. Merlin, on the other hand, had practically lived in the library with Freya and had never attended a single party in his entire high-school career. He’d never played on a single sports team and he had been ridiculed by the entire student population with the exception of Freya and Gwaine. Still, even though the thought was more than a bit strange, he was going to need Gwaine’s help and advice in order to act convincingly as a student. 

Needing something more suitable for a student to drive than Merlin’s actual car, Merlin found himself outside Gwaine’s place of work attempting to persuade him to let Merlin borrow his car. 

“You want Bambi? No way.” 

“Gwaine _please._ ” 

“Why don't you just borrow Ma's car?” 

“I can't use a minivan. I need a cheap car.” He backtracked hastily at Gwaine's forced laugh. “Sorry, sorry. I need a vintage classic. It's just for a couple of months.” 

“A couple of months is like ten years in Bambi life.” 

“It's so weird that you name your cars.” 

“Why? Guy’s name their penises.” 

“Okay...” Merlin held his hand up at that. He'd never really been part of any laddish circles, not like Gwaine had. His closest friends had always been female. “You can have my Buick LeSabre and name it anything you want.” 

“Really?” 

“LeSabre?” 

“Nah, I don't think so.” 

“Fully loaded.” Merlin was pulling out the big guns now. Or was at least attempting to. He followed Gwaine into the shop, smiling as one of Gwaine’s co-workers stepped forward with a bunch of lei strung over his arm. 

“Maybe.” 

“Aloha, welcome! Every customer gets a free lei.” 

“Relax, Monty. It's just my brother.” 

“Aloha my ass.” The lei that was being held out for Merlin to put on was retracted as the other man shook his head and moved back behind the counter. 

“Take it easy buddy.” 

“Hey Gwaine, have you talked to the admissions lady from Lakeshore Community College yet?” 

“No.” Oh god, this was going to another one of those conversations where Merlin felt as though he was talking at a brick wall. 

“But you could start before next semester, talk to her about a baseball scholarship.” 

“It's too late Merlin, you know. I'm not going to college. I'm not playing baseball any more. This is my life.” 

“This is a luau that sells packing material. You had such a shot at playing college ball. Don't you want to move out of Ma's? Pay your own bills? Be able to actually take girls home?” 

“Why? So I can be as happy as you?” 

“I am happy. Besides, you are looking at the newest undercover reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. I am Merlin Emrys, high-school student, senior class 1999.” Merlin couldn’t help the pride that had slipped into his voice, still over the moon that he was finally being allowed to go undercover and actually write an article of his own rather than having to edit other peoples. 

“Oh no. You're kidding right?” 

“What?” 

“Merlin, do you remember high school?” 

“It was a long time ago.” 

“Do you remember what they called you in high school? Do you remember what they did to you in high school?” 

Merlin winced as Gwaine’s words hit home. How could he forget his high-school days? He had been completely and utterly miserable for the entire duration of his high-school years and they still traumatised him to this day. 

“Oh Merlin, what's the matter? You look nauseous.” 

“Nauseated. I look nauseated.” 

The words had barely left Merlin’s mouth before he could feel the urge to throw up becoming increasingly insistent. Dashing for the bathroom, he barely made it before he was throwing up into the toilet. He hated the fact that even just the memories of high-school had him reacting like this. If he was throwing up at the memories of his first high-school experience, how the hell was he going to live through his second? Slumped on the floor of what was, quite frankly, an incredibly dubiously cleaned bathroom, for the first time in all of this Merlin started to second-guess whether or not he was actually capable of this assignment. All he managed to do was push himself towards having a panic attack. _  
_

“This is a very bad idea.”

~*~

Desperate to avoid the humiliation that he had suffered in Spanish, his first class as a high-school student the second time around, Merlin got to English early and selected a seat in the back two rows only to be confronted by a trio of girls who were obviously at the top of the popularity ladder. He was very familiar with this kind of girl, having had plenty of interactions with them over the years. 

“We sit here.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't realise these seats were assigned.” 

“They're not.” 

“Good morning everyone ... erm, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Arthur.” 

Merlin turned around to see an absolutely gorgeous blond man looking right at him, obviously having spoken _to him._

“… Pendragon. This school has something about letting you call me Arthur.” 

He smiled and Merlin was head over heels. The man in front of him was a blond haired, blue-eyed, well-build GOD. Or at least that was the excuse that he was sticking to in an attempt to justify what came out of his mouth next. “I’m Merlin ... but I’m pretty sure the school would be okay with you calling me that.” He cringed inwardly; could he have sounded any more like an idiot?” 

With the class obviously starting, Merlin ended up sat in the front row and literally hanging off every word that escaped from Arthur’s mouth. English had always been his favourite class and now throw in a ridiculously attractive teacher and Merlin was actually glad that he had ended up in the front row. 

“So welcome to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. This play deals with the uncertainty of gender. Anyone?” 

The rest of the class passed in a blur. Shakespeare had been one of Merlin’s favourite parts about high-school English and, while Twelfth Night hadn’t been one of his favourites, he still knew more about it than this class. He had answered every single question perfectly and engaged in several lengthy discussions with the blond-haired god throughout the class. Maybe this time around high-school was going to be more pleasurable. As he walked out of the class, said blond-haired god stopped him. 

“Merlin, wasn’t it? Are you sure you’re seventeen?” _  
_

“Yes, I'm seventeen. I'm seventeen. Of course.” _Oh bloody hell,_ thought Merlin, _I’m in my second class and I’ve been caught out already. Shit.  
_

“That was really impressive Merlin. You had some really interesting insights into the play. I look forward to having you in my class for the rest of year.” 

As Merlin preceded the teacher out of the classroom, he was fairly confident that he had taken on the colour of an overripe tomato. English was obviously going to be his favourite class this time around as well. 

(~*~)

Buoyed by the positivity of that interaction, Merlin was on an undeniable high as he made his way into the canteen. Filling a tray of food, he saw the three girls that had thrown him out of his original seat in English and made his way over to them. He might as well start as he meant to go on. 

“Hi, I’m Merlin. I was hoping that I could ask you a couple of questions. What are you guys' hopes and dreams? Any interests?” 

He was greeted with blank faces and complete disinterest. He was fairly certain that, had he been a bug on the underside of their shoes, he would have received a warmer welcome. The final straw was when he went to sit down only to find that the seat was curiously shoved out of the way before he could sit down, sending him crashing to the floor and tipping the contents of the tray all over him. As he tried to flee the room, food all down his new clothes, he ran into a gorgeous dark-haired, dark-eyed man that had Merlin’s brain going offline. 

“Hi, I'm Lancelot.” 

“Yikes. Bikes!” Merlin could feel the capillaries in his cheeks betraying him already. 

“Are you in Special-Ed?” 

The day just got better and better. He stammered some kind of excuse and fled the canteen, planning on eating his lunch in the toilet. At least there he couldn’t say anything stupid. Or be seen by anybody. Let alone Lancelot, he was even more attractive than Merlin could remember Cenred being. Was he as attractive as Arthur though? Maybe they were on a par despite the obvious differences in colour. 

Well, it was barely lunchtime and Merlin was making a fool of himself already. No surprises there. 

~*~

“Hustle, hustle! Come on people! Emrys, move it. Pick up your feet. Little bit more commitment Emrys. Move it! Come on! What is...” 

“Must … have … water.” Merlin fell to his knees, gasping for air. There was a reason that Gwaine was the sporty one out of the two of them. Merlin was much more familiar with the library than with the sports field. The only running he had ever done was in the opposite direction to the sports field. 

“What do I look like? A waitress? Now complete these sprints. If you don't, you fail. And if you fail gym, you're never getting into college.” 

“You guys are still telling that lie?” The minute the words left his mouth, Merlin wanted to retract them. Thankfully the gym teacher hadn’t actually paid any attention to what Merlin had said other than the fact that he had answered back and carried on speaking regardless. 

“That does it Emrys. Drop and give me twenty.” 

“No ...” Merlin literally collapsed into a heap on the floor. When he had eagerly accepted this job, he had forgotten that in attending high school once more he was going to have to attend every single class. That included gym.  It hadn’t changed in the slightest since the first time around and it was still just as hard. Merlin felt as though his lungs were going to burst. This assignment was going to kill him, it was official.

(~*~)

 Several nights he confided everything to Morgana over copious amounts of alcohol, pizza and ice-cream. Being a fan of brutal honest, Morgana would always tell him the truth, even if the truth wasn’t what he actually wanted to hear. 

“Why did I think that I could do this ‘Gana? Leon was right; I’m not made out to be a journalist. I should just give up now before I humiliate myself even more. I’m sure that Alined can find someone more suitable than me to take over. Maybe whoever he chooses will actually have some ideas for stories because I don’t. At least none that won’t get shot down in flames.” 

“Is it really going that badly?” 

“I talk to you every day ‘Gana. You know it’s going that badly. Leon phoned me before you arrived and told me in no uncertain terms that I need to stop spending time with Gwen and make a concerted effort with the popular kids. He’s desperate for a scoop and Alined is even worse. If I mess this up then I think I’ll actually lose my job.” 

Merlin smiled half-heartedly as Morgana’s response to that was to bury him in a hug. For someone so skinny, Morgana gave great hugs. And also provided the most fattening kinds of comfort food (which of course made it the best), as she handed him a brand new tub of Ben and Jerry’s. 

“Would it be so bad? Not being able to spend time with Gwen?” 

“She’s been the only person who has spoken to be of her own volition and that was to actually be nice, not be rude or derogatory to me like everybody else who spoke to me. You were one of the popular crowd Morgana; you actually know what to say to them. I don’t know where to start. Every time I try and talk to them, something ridiculous comes out of my mouth and they just end up laughing at me. Have I told you Leon is making me wear a wire and a video camera? That’s how much he doesn’t trust me. How do you think that that makes me feel? The paper has sent me on an undercover assignment but they don’t trust me to come up with a story. Why did they me undercover in the first place?” 

“I don’t know what to say Merlin except I’m sure it will get better.” Morgana smiled sympathetically. “Now, eat some more ice-cream and tell me all about this dishy Mr Pendragon.”

 ~*~

Merlin winced at the sound emanating from the club as he waited in line to be allowed in by the bouncers. If it was this loud outside then what was it going to be like inside? He really wanted to be spending the evening with Gwen just chatting and spending time at the younger girls home but, having bowed to pressure from Leon, he was doing what the man wanted him to and trying to spend more time with the so-called ‘popular’ people. He still winced at the look of hurt on Gwen’s face when he had stood her up at school and she had seen him accepting an offer to the club. 

“You drinking tonight?” He had got to the front of the queue and the bouncer was staring at him, obviously waited for a response. 

“Uh, no. I'm not twenty-one, I'm seventeen and I still attend high school.” 

Merlin couldn't help but feel a little out of place as he wandered through the club keeping an eye out for people from school. He'd never really been much of a clubbing person; that was always Gwaine instead, but as he found himself bopping along he couldn't deny that the music was catchy. And then of course his klutzy nature asserted itself and he nearly walked head first into somebodies chest. Just to make things worse, that somebody just had to be Mr Pendragon. All he wanted to do now was find a brick wall that he could bang his head against. 

“Merlin? Merlin! Out on a school night?” 

And now Mr Pendragon was talking to him. Could the evening get any worse? Before he could respond, they were joined by an ice-cool gorgeous blonde that sidled up to Mr Pendragon. 

“That bathroom was disgusting...”

“Oh, I'd like you to meet Morgause de Bois.”

The blonde stroked a perfectly manicured hand over Arthur's chest. “Arthur's girlfriend.” 

Apparently it could get worse. Of course his crush had a girlfriend and one as gorgeous as he was. How could he have ever thought that Arthur would be single? 

“Morgause is visiting from New York. Merlin's one of my students.” 

“How are you?” 

“What?” 

“Hi there.” 

“I'm sorry, I can't even think in here. No offence Arthur, I know you love this. I'm just hoping you're going to get it all out of your system before you move to New York. My firm has season tickets to the Met.” **  
**

New York? Arthur was moving to New York? He couldn't do that! Oh god, she's waiting for an answer. “Oh well, I love baseball.” The minute that the words had left his mouth, he wished that he could take them back. Clotpole. The Met. The Metropolitan Opera. Not baseball. She obviously thought he was an idiot. Arthur obviously thought he was an idiot. 

“Nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” Merlin watched as the couple wandered off. Well, the delectable Mr Pendragon was obviously straight and it wasn’t entirely unsurprising that he had a drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend. Oh well, Merlin could still dream. There was nothing wrong with that. In an attempt to distract himself, he continued to aimlessly wander around the club, searching for something that could constitute a story. 

Eventually, he ended up joining a group of Rastafari simply so that he wasn’t sat by himself being a complete loner in a club. 

“Excuse me? Can I sit there?” 

“Yeah. We accept all people. We are all about the love. Come on and have a seat.” 

“Thank you so much.” 

“How are you tonight?” 

“I'm very well. How are you?” 

“I'm feeling good. I feel real good. We have a special cake for you. Have some cake. It's a special cake, a ganja cake. It has vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin T, H and C, eat it up.” 

“Mmm.” 

“Good huh?” 

“That is delicious. You know I love chocolate.” 

Merlin found himself giggling hysterically as he continued to eat the chocolate brownies. With every bite he could feel his self-confidence increasing until he found himself actually dancing and playing the bongos on stage, not caring about the fact that he was doing so in front of a crowded club. After that it all got a bit hazy, not really sure what he was doing. 

The last thing that he vaguely remembered doing that evening was leaving a long rambling voicemail for Gwaine. **  
**

“I'm telling you Gwaine, I think I really did it. I think I'm totally in! I was so cool! You know what's a weird word? Fork. Oh! Did I tell you about the new friends I made? I made friends with a whole table of Rastafari. Not just one. A whole table! Oh my god, someone ate my entire pie. I don't know how that happened.” 

~*~

The following morning found Merlin, yet again, dashing for the sanctity of the toilets as all down the hallway people laughed at him. There had been a bit of a disaster and, when Merlin had actually passed out at his breakfast counter the previous night, he had managed to imprint the word ‘loser’ onto his forehead from the stamp at the club. To top it all off, he had apparently eaten a whole plate of hash brownies followed by a whole pie when he got home. He’d never done drugs in his whole life and was mortified by the people who were mocking his actions while he had been under the influence. Running down the hallway, not really caring where he was going, he failed to notice the office door opening in front of him until it was too late and he was laid out flat on his back. With Gwaine leaning over him.

“Gwaine? What are you doing here?” 

Merlin’s eyes widened as his brother held up a South Glen ID. “I’ve just enrolled as a student. I’m going to get you through your assignment. With me on your side, there will be no problems getting a story. You’ll be popular in no time.” 

Gwaine’s words couldn’t have been more prophetic. By the end of that first day, courtesy of him eating an industrial-sized bucket of coleslaw, Gwaine was Mr Popular at South Glen and, within a week, courtesy of him spreading a few rumours in the right people’s ears, Merlin was starting to be noticed. It still wasn’t perfect and he still wasn’t completely accepted but at least people weren’t looking at him as though he was something that they had stepped in. Merlin had watched all of this with a strange sort of bemusement. He couldn’t believe how simple it had been for Gwaine. One week and he was already on two sports teams, coasting through his classes with the barest possible amount of work and inundated with dates. 

Life was so unfair sometimes.

 ~*~

Merlin winced inwardly as he wandered around the fair; he hated things like this and if it weren't for the fact that he had to be here because he'd promised Leon then he would be curled up at home with Mordred. He had at least progressed somewhat from high school the first time around – then he wouldn't have even made it out of the house let alone to the funfair. He hated things like this. It was like school but a hundred times worse; the shouting and screaming of people on the rides, couples absolutely everywhere, girls strutting around in as little clothing as possible and jocks running around just being idiots. Gwaine would no doubt be having the time of his life but then this was the kind of place where Gwaine was in his element. It had always amazed Merlin that, as close as the two of them were, they were complete polar opposites when it came down to personality. He had no doubt that, if you were with friends, then it was absolutely fantastic but by yourself, it just seemed to draw attention to your loneliness, even if you didn't think that you were lonely. 

He supposed that, now he thought about it, he was lonely and he had been for a while. He had good friends but he didn’t really socialise with them outside of work. What this assignment had shown him was just how much he had missed out on in high school and, not only that, but how much he was missing out on now. 

In an attempt to cheer himself up, he made for the queue for the Ferris wheel; it had always been his favourite ride when he was younger and he would go to the fair with his mum and Gwaine and he was positive that it would improve his mood today. He firmly ignored one of Lance's idiotic friends in front of him and resolutely paid no attention to the kissing couples surrounding him; the only downside to the Ferris wheel. After what seemed like an age, he was finally at the front of the queue and stepping into one of the little pods. He waited for the ride worker to put the barrier down and looked confused when he didn't, only for realisation to dawn as he was asked if he was by himself. Cursing his pale skin that showed his blushes incredibly well, he reluctantly answered that he was before cringing in mortification as the man started shouting for someone else to come and ride with him. 

“Do you have to yell like that?” 

It was agonising. Completely and utterly humiliating sitting there with all the people watching as the carnival worker drew totally unnecessary attention to the fact that he was completely by himself. He just ducked his head and hoped that his mortification would end soon. 

“Is this seat taken?” 

He couldn't help the rush of relief that went through him as somebody stepped into the little pod and sat down next to him, the barrier being brought down across their laps. He looked up and smiled as he saw that it was Art- Mr Pendragon sat next to him. “Thank you, thank you.” It was only when they started moving that he registered that his crush was sat in the pod with him and his brain immediately blanked. 

“Are you scared?” Okay, so maybe not the best question to ask but he was curious and he had to make conversation somehow. 

“Well, I'll tell you something. I hope this doesn't undermine my position as an authority figure but erm, I'm a little afraid of heights.” 

“You're afraid of the Ferris wheel.” Merlin could barely keep the incredulity out of his voice. 

“Well actually it's the plunging head first into the crowd part that kind of gets me.” 

“Well I bet if you had your Gordie Howe helmet on you'd feel better.” This was good; he was actually making conversation with Arthur, Mr Pendragon. But, maybe that was a bit too much. Merlin bit his lip and turned away from the man sat next to him. 

“You remember that story?” 

“I remember everything that you say.” Okay, way too much information. How to rescue this? “In your classroom. I remember everything you say in your classroom.” 

“Woohoo! If the buckets a rockin' don't come a kn-kn-knockin. Yeah.” They both looked up to see Owain, one of Lancelot's cronies in the pod above them with his latest girlfriend. 

“Boys.” 

“Mr Pendragon rocks my world!” 

Merlin couldn't help the way that his nose wrinkled at the juvenile behaviour on display – he couldn't remember Gwaine behaving quite so badly. Arthur obviously caught the face he pulled from his next words. 

“You know, I'd like to tell you that we all grow out of it, it's a lie. Some of us will always be rattling cages.” 

“Why do you do that?” Maybe Merlin would finally get an insight into men that he'd never get from Gwaine. 

“I don't know. You know what's scary is that as you get older it just gets more confusing. I mean, you know Morgause, my girlfriend you met at the club? We've been going out for five years and now she wants me to move to New York. And, you know, I mean I should do it, make the commitment.” 

Merlin nodded, even though this really wasn't what he wanted to hear as Arthur continued talking. Should Arthur even be talking to a student, or a supposed student, about things like this? 

“I know we have our differences. You know what, I shouldn't be talking about this stuff with you, I'm sorry.” 

Apparently he shouldn't be. 

“It's nice to have someone to talk to.” And the thing was, Merlin wasn't lying when he said that. As much as he loved her, he could never have a conversation with Morgana about this and Gwaine and Leon would both run away screaming. Not that Merlin would really want to have this kind of talk with either of them. 

“Yeah, same here. Well, all I can tell you is that when you're my age girls, guys?”

“Guys.” Merlin confirmed with a shy smile. Hopefully it wouldn't be a problem. Thankfully, beyond a slight widening of his eyes, Arthur didn't bat an eyelid. 

“When you're my age guys will be lined up around the block for you.” 

“You have to say that because you're my teacher.” Merlin couldn't look at Arthur as he spoke. 

“Actually I shouldn't say that because I'm your teacher.” 

“Oh.” 

What the hell did Merlin say to that? His mind was racing but he didn't seem to be capable of opening his mouth and making coherent conversation. The two of them simply sat in awkward silence until the pod reached the bottom of the ride and then climbed out without a word and then climbed out without a word. By that point Merlin didn't care about a potential story and made a welcome escape home. 

(~*~)

Merlin was still in a complete daze when he finally made it in through his front door. He was so confused about everything that had happened that evening and he didn’t know what to do or think. All he could think about was the conversation with Arthur. Yet again, he hadn’t done what Leon wanted him to do but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He had actually managed to have a conversation with Arthur. Okay, he probably shouldn’t have had it considering that Arthur was under the illusion that Merlin was a student but that wasn’t the point, they had had a conversation that wasn’t to do with schoolwork. Instead, they had actually had an adult conversation. 

It had been fairly obvious from the minute that Merlin had walked into the classroom for that first English class that he was going to crush on Arthur Pendragon but Merlin hadn’t envisioned just how head over heels he was going to fall for the man. Of course, the man had a girlfriend but then that hadn’t been entirely unexpected. A man like Arthur couldn’t exist and be single – that would just be wrong. Besides, it didn’t sound as though all was well in their relationship. Not that Merlin was delusional enough to think that he would ever stand a chance with Arthur, or with any man really. Arthur had been very kind in saying that when Merlin was Arthur’s age people, men, would be queuing up to date him but the reality was, Merlin was probably already Arthur’s age and, if not, very close to it. There were definitely no men queuing up and waiting for him. Merlin didn’t need there to be a queue, he just needed someone to want him but there wasn’t even one man who wanted to date him. In that respect, absolutely nothing had changed since high school. 

Merlin was simply resigned to the fact that the only man in his life, the only man other than Gwaine that had any significance in Merlin’s life, was Mordred. And he was a cat. Oh god, this called for massive quantities of ice-cream and shitty movies hidden under the duvet. After all, that was what awaited him for the rest of his life. And now he’d turned into one of those sad, melodramatic characters that you found in made-for-TV movies. 

He was doomed. 

~*~

“Alright guys, as you've probably noticed, this certainly isn't English. Um, we've combined a few classes today here for the seminar. Hopefully the speaker will be here any minute now.” 

Merlin caught sight of Morgana lurking outside the door at the same time as Arthur did. “Hi … are you here for the sex talk?” 

“Oooh … I like a man who gets right to the point!” 

“Are you Pam?” 

“.... If you say so.” 

“Okay class, this is Pam, she is going to lead us today in our sex talk.” 

At Arthur's words, Merlin could see realisation dawn on Morgana and wondered how his friend was going to deal with this. 

“I what! No, I what! Oh, I am. That's correct. H-hi, I'm P-Pam. Sex. Yes, well sex. What do you say about sex really? You like a guy … you do it with him … sometimes he calls, sometimes he doesn't. Ooooh.” 

Merlin knocked a pen off his head, grateful that Morgana got the hint when she scurried forward to pick it up for him. “What are you doing here?” 

“I don’t know? I was just coming to meet you and now I’m apparently giving a sex talk!” Morgana looked up as Arthur cleared his throat loudly, looking pointedly between Morgana and Merlin. “Sorry, where was I? Sex can be fun … when you're old enough, which none of you are. I should know. When you lose it to some guy named Tristan with bad breath in the back of a van at a Guns 'n' Roses concert, you're going to wish you had listened to your mother when she said, “They're not going to want to buy the whole friggin' ice cream truck when you're handing out the popsicles for free.” So, any questions?” 

Merlin’s head hit the desk as he tried desperately not to laugh out loud when every single hand in the classroom, except for his, shot up in the air. It would appear that Morgana’s attempt at a sex talk had resulted in more questions than it answered. 

“Oh I know it's hard. I mean, really difficult!” Morgana backtracked as the whole class giggled. “But safe sex is really important. Ok, so just imagine that the bananas are the real thing.” Morgana had them trying to put condoms on bananas. “In a land called Every Man's Fantasy.” 

Next to Merlin, Mithian was struggling. “I can't do this.” 

“Maybe that's because we're not supposed to be having sex with bananas.” 

“You know what though, I really feel as though I'm ready to do it. You know, have sex for the first time.” 

Merlin couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Mithian was probably the youngest person in the year and she acted it as well. She was also one of the dimmest, in the nicest possible way. He was amazed that she was even considering it; he certainly hadn't at her age. He wasn’t considering it now. 

“That's a big deal. You should make sure you've found the right person.” That sounded okay, not too patronising. “You know, Adelie penguins, they spend their whole lives looking for that one other penguin and when they meet them, they know. And they spend the rest of their lives together.” And there was the babbling. Brilliant. 

“But I'm not a penguin.” 

He had somehow (how?!) forgotten that he was talking to Mithian. He was just about to reply when a voice came from behind him. 

“It's an analogy.” 

The condom that Merlin had been attempting to fit on the banana sprang out of his hands and flew up, hitting Arthur in the eye. 

“Excuse me. I have to go die now.” 

Suddenly there was the crackle of the PA system springing to life. _“Hey kids, Sydney here. Bad news about the Prom. East Glen East is gonna do “Millennium” too.”  
_

“Calm down. Sit. Alright, come on it's just a prom theme. All we need is a new idea.” 

“Ooooh! How about “Under the Sea”?” 

“What about the '80s?” 

“What do you think we are? Amateurs?” 

“All right, all right, Merlin.” Lance stood up, immediately commanding quiet from the rest of his peers. 

“That's not a theme.” 

“Thank you … No, Merlin will have the answer.” 

Merlin thought about it for a while. Thinking up and discarding half a dozen concepts before he finally spoke. “How about ‘Meant for Each Other; Famous Couples throughout History’?” 

“Absolutely, absolutely. People, we have a new theme!" 

Merlin blushed as Lance grinned widely at him and the rest of the class cheered and whooped loudly. He was actually doing this. 

~*~

The time continued to slip away and Merlin still didn’t have a story. Much to the displeasure of both Alined and Leon. Prom was rapidly approaching and, while Merlin didn’t have a date, he had been included in the plans of the popular people. While he didn’t really trust Nimueh, Sophia and Vivien, he did like Lance although he did miss his friendship with Gwen something dreadful. Then again, all of the preparations for prom meant that Merlin had got to spend a lot of time with Arthur, something that he could never complain about. 

The only downside to spending more time with Arthur meant that Merlin was falling for him more and more. Just that day they had been painting the backdrops for the prom and they had been chatting and then Arthur had flicked paint on Merlin and Merlin had flicked some back. They had then descended into laughter, flicking and daubing each other with paint. Merlin was fairly certain, although he couldn’t be positive, that they had been flirting. But then, he had never been flirted with so he couldn’t really know for sure. All he knew was that, as handsome as Lance was, he had never been as interested in someone as he was with Arthur Pendragon. Except, if Arthur _had_ been flirting with him should he have been? Merlin might have been a twenty-five year old undercover but Arthur didn’t know that. As far as Arthur was concerned, Merlin was a student. Should he even have been flirting, if flirting was actually what he had been doing? 

Merlin wanted to tear his hair out at the confusion of it all. Why was life so complicated? 

~*~

Merlin felt his heart race as he saw his crush walking towards him where he sat in the library. Would this be the day that he could actually control the words coming out of his mouth so he didn’t sound like a complete idiot? Probably not. 

“Art … Mr Pendragon!” 

“Merlin, there you are. I meant to ask you behind after English but I forgot. I got you a meeting with the admissions guy at Dartmouth.” 

Merlin’s heart sank. Oh god, he was in way over his head. Until now, it hadn’t really sunk in that people really did believe that he was a high-school student. Here was the proof. Oh god, what was he going to do? 

“Dartmouth? I mean, I wasn't going to go to college.” Well that wasn’t going to convince anybody, never mind a determined Arthur Pendragon. 

“No, no. I pulled some strings and I got him to look at your writing and well, he agreed to meet with you.” 

Even though this was going to become an unmitigated disaster if he couldn’t stop it somehow, Merlin couldn’t stop the warm feeling that bubbled up inside him at Arthur’s words. It was such a wonderful feeling that somebody who was a relative stranger believed in Merlin so much that he had pulled strings to get him a college interview. Merlin was ignoring the fact that he already had a college degree for the time being. 

“You believe in me that much?” He couldn’t really get his head around the fact that someone who wasn’t his mum believed in him that much. Morgana and Leon did but, as was their way, their belief came with a hefty serving of scepticism. 

“Of course I do. Merlin, you owe it to yourself, to your writing, to go to college. You are a great writer. You just have to find your story. I’ll have all the details for your next class.” With that, Arthur left, clapping Merlin on the shoulder as he did so. 

Merlin managed to resist the urge to hit his head against the table. At least until after Arthur had left the room. Then he proceeded to try and knock some sense into himself, even he knew that it was futile. His crush on Arthur wasn’t going to go anywhere, that was obvious, but that didn’t help with the fact that Arthur had managed to get him an interview at Dartmouth. Dartmouth; the school that, not only had he attended for the duration of his college career but the school from which he had received his degree in English and Journalism. He wouldn’t be able to turn up to an interview there; they would call him out on his lie immediately. 

And therein lay the problem. 

Merlin already had a story. He already had the opportunity to prove that he was a great writer. The only problem was that writing his story involved lying to a lot of people, lying to people who meant a great deal to this. Arthur’s words, Arthur’s belief in him, made Merlin even more determined to write this story and to write it well. All he had to do was figure out how to write it without creating a huge fallout and hurting a lot of people. Not too much of an ask then. 

~*~

Walking up the steps to his mum’s house, Merlin couldn’t decide if he was happy or upset that his mum wouldn’t be there. She had gone to the theatre with Alice, leaving instructions that she wanted plenty of photos of Merlin in his costume. Hunith had been unable to make her mind up whether she liked the idea of Merlin going undercover for this assignment. She trusted his judgement, of course she did, but at the same time she remembered how miserable he had been the first time around. Shaking off the thoughts and memories, he pressed the doorbell and blinked as Gwaine answered the door wearing nothing but a white shirt, his pants and white socks. It was typical Gwaine. 

“Who are you supposed to be?” 

“Tom Cruise? Risky Business?” 

It didn’t really ring any bells with Merlin but then he wasn’t too good with more modern films; he had a fondness for old black and white films. Classic Hollywood. He laughed as Gwaine primped and preened in the hall mirror. His brother was only wearing a shirt, pants and socks yet he was primping with his hair as though he was wearing a full set of tails. 

“Gwaine, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me. It’s all really happening and I know it’s because of you.” 

Gwaine just grinned as he pulled Merlin into a huge hug. “No problem. Anything for my little brother.” Gwaine pulled back from the hug, slapping Merlin enthusiastically on the back a few times. “Oh! My wallet!” 

“Where are you going to put it?” 

Gwaine didn’t bother to respond, just rolled his eyes. As Gwaine raced off up the stairs, Merlin turned around to look out at the street from the porch. The very same porch where, all those years ago, he had been pelted with eggs by Cenred on a night so similar to this one. All of a sudden, a limo slowly made its way down the street, a man’s head poking up through the sunroof. Merlin pulled back instinctively, fearing a re-run of his first prom night. But, instead of Cenred carrying a box of eggs, Lance emerged dressed as a character straight out of a Shakespeare play, his costume matching Merlin’s, holding a white rose. 

“Will you allow me to escort you to the prom?” 

A wide grin took over Merlin’s face. He might have a ridiculous crush on Arthur but this was what he had always wanted. He might be twenty-five and an undercover reporter but finally, the hottest guy in school wanted to take him, Merlin Emrys, to the prom. Not caring that he was leaving Gwaine behind, Merlin took off down the path towards the outlandish car. Gwaine had Bambi after all. He could find his way to the prom easily enough. 

(~*~)

The building looked beautiful all decked out for the prom and the car park was full of teenagers in costume and numerous ostentatious cars. Unsurprisingly, Nimueh, Sophie and Vivian were there in incredibly skimpy outfits and all three looked completely oblivious as Lance and Merlin explained that they were dressed as characters from Twelfth Night. Shaking his head in bemusement, Merlin accepted Lance’s arm as he escorted him into the building. 

Once inside, Merlin couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Gwaine try to deal with a very flaily Mithian. Gwaine had always been very good at attracting women but never very good at keeping them but then Mithian seemed clingy enough that he wouldn’t be able to shake her. Looking around, he may not have been there at his original prom but at least he was finally getting to experience that great American tradition of prom. His head snapped towards the stage as the DJ shouted loudly and a cheer went up from the gathered teens. 

“Give it up for Mr Pendragon and Mrs Annis who will be advertising the members of our Prom Court.” 

The two teachers in question stepped forward, both of them looking smart in evening dress. 

“And the princesses are … Nimueh, Vivian and Sophia.” Well that was completely unsurprising. If those three hadn’t been voted onto the court, Merlin would have been truly surprised. 

“And the princes are … Valiant, Owain and, Mr Gwaine? Mr Gwaine!” 

“Next up, South Glen’s Prom King. No surprises here. Lancelot!” 

Arthur stepped forward to the microphone again. “And this year’s Prom Queen. Ladies and gentlemen …. Merlin Emrys.” 

Merlin was certain that he was positively scarlet as the crown was placed on his head and there was no way that he could look Arthur in the face. He looked up at Arthur, unable to help wishing that he would be able to dance with the older man rather than Lance. But how likely was that? A teacher would never get away with dancing with a student, even if said student wasn’t really a student. 

“And as is custom, the King and the Queen will now have their first dance.” 

As he walked down the steps to meet Lance, Merlin's heart was racing but he knew that the attraction he had felt towards Lance was nothing compared to what he felt for Arthur. Even so, he was determined to enjoy this, what he had never experienced at school the first time round. 

“Tell me what you're thinking.” 

Merlin looked up at Lance in surprise. “I was thinking about Shakespeare. How he described a night like this. Look how the floor of heaven is thick and laid with patines of bright gold. What are you thinking about?” 

“This song.” 

“Oh.” Well that was deep. Shakespeare compared to The Cardigans. 

“Merlin, you rock my world. You're like the most amazing guy that I've ever … dated. You're so fun to be with. You're smart, you're crazy. You rock my world.” Lance looked so earnest as he spoke. Even if he was repeating himself. 

“You said that already.” Merlin might rock Lance’s world but he was only eighteen and, well, Arthur Pendragon rocked Merlin’s world. 

“Yeah.” **  
**

Try as he might, Merlin couldn't stop his traitorous eyes from sliding across to Arthur. They stayed there for the rest of the song. He couldn’t help but hope that the look he could see on Arthur’s face meant that the older man wanted to dance with him as well. Scant minutes after his official dance with Lance had ended, Merlin found himself by the dessert table. **  
**

“Is this chocolate?” He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was an unabashed chocolate fiend and, upon receiving confirmation that it was, piled as much as feasibly possible onto his plate. 

“Hey.” 

And of course, Arthur would pick that moment in time to come and talk to him. Hastily swallowing his mouthful, he tried to make it look like he wasn’t stuffing his face. “Hey.” 

“You know Merlin; you make a really beautiful Prom Queen.” 

Should he talk offence at being called beautiful or just accept the compliment? “Really? Thanks.” Accept it then. Of course he should accept it, it was a compliment from Arthur; how many more of those was he likely to get? “So do you.” And there was his mouth running away with itself again. Would anyone notice if he just went and killed himself? 

“You know I always feel like a goofball in these penguin suits. Like I'm at a wedding or something. Do you want to?” Arthur gestured towards the dance floor and Merlin was fairly certain that his heart stopped beating momentarily before it resumed at double speed. Arthur wanted to dance with him. _Him, Merlin Emrys._

“'kay.” 

As Merlin followed Arthur to the dance floor, he was thrilled to see Lance approach Gwen and ask her to dance. He might have found Lance attractive but the younger man was made for Gwen. They would be the perfect couple if they could make it work. If they could even give it a try. He couldn't help but notice the irony that, as soon as they stepped onto the dance floor, the track changed to The Smiths singing 'Please, please, let me get what I want'. **  
**

“You know it's funny, proms always make me a little sad. They're so final you know, graduation, every scattering, moving on.” 

“Is your girlfriend here?” Merlin wasn’t ashamed to admit that he had already scanned the room for any sign of Morgause, a thrill of delight shooting through him when he couldn’t see her. 

“No, I'm alone. In fact, we broke up last week."  
  
What the hell was Merlin supposed to say to that? Oh yes, he wasn’t supposed to think and just let his mouth shoot off without him. “Really? That's funny because actually prom comes from promenade and you can't promenade alone. Oh god, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I meant to say that I’m really sorry you broke up, that’s horrible.”  
  
“You're amazing Merlin Emrys.”

Before Merlin could respond Arthur was talking again. 

“Have you thought about Dartmouth at all?”  
  
“Yes. And erm, there's something I want to tell you.” Merlin deliberately turned off the video feed, completely aware of how much trouble he was going to get into for doing so. He couldn’t do this with an audience though. He just couldn’t. 

“There's something I want to tell you too. Something I need to tell you.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin saw a rather gleeful looking Nimueh shaking what looked to be a tin of dog food while glancing in the direction of where Gwen and Lance were dancing. It didn’t take a genius to realise what her and her cronies were planning. Even though he needed to talk to Arthur desperately, Merlin couldn’t let them do that to Gwen, even if she did hate him. Carefully manoeuvring himself, he managed to be in the right place at the right time to ensure that, rather than going all over Gwen, the dog food managed to go all over the terrible trio instead. The shrieks of horror were deafening, even over the music. 

“I knew it! You are a loser!” 

“You've ruined everything.” 

“You don't deserve to be prom queen!” 

Merlin didn’t need three guesses to know who had shouted out those phrases. The stress of having to keep everything under wraps became too much for Merlin and he snapped, pulling the crown of his head and letting it fall to floor, oblivious to the gasps of horror from the expected trio.

“Let me tell you something, I don't care about being your stupid prom queen. I'm twenty-five years old. I'm an undercover reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and I've been beating my brains out trying to impress you people. Let me tell you something Nimueh, Vivian, Sophia, you will spend the rest of your lives trying to keep others down because it makes you feel more important. Why her? Let me tell you about this girl. She is _unbelievable_. I was new here and she befriended me, no questions asked. But you, you were only my friend after my brother, Gwaine, posed as a student and told you to like me. All of you people, there is a big world out there …. Bigger than prom, bigger than high school and it won't matter if you were the prom queen, the quarterback of the football team, or the biggest nerd in school. Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it.” 

In the middle of his rant, Merlin failed to notice that Arthur had disappeared. He hadn’t noticed anything as he desperately tried to get these teenagers to understand what he was trying to say. Merlin knew that with some of them, he was pretty much beating his head against a brick wall but he was determined to give it a go because, while he might not be able to get through to all of them, hopefully he would help a couple of them have a life that was slightly less miserable than his. 

“Excuse me.” As Merlin ran out of the hall, close to tears, Merlin didn’t take any notice of the claps and cheers that followed him out of the room. 

Racing out of the hall, Merlin found his way blocked by Geoffrey, apoplectic at having lost the video feed. Something that, unbeknownst to Merlin, everybody back in the office was watching. And talking bets on. “Hello, we lost the feed. Leon's going crazy. Did you get the story? Please tell me you got something on Pendragon.” 

“No. I didn’t.” Behind Geoffrey, Merlin saw Arthur stand up and all of the blood drained from his face. Seeing Merlin’s pallor, Geoffrey turned to look and winced. 

“I'll just, erm, go.” 

“So, surprise!” Of course, cue Merlin’s very own brand of foot and mouth syndrome. 

“Surprise you were doing a story on me?” There was no disguising the hurt in Arthur’s voice. 

“No, I couldn't. Tell you that is.  I mean, surprise I was hoping….” Merlin didn’t know what he had been hoping. Well, he did but he wasn’t exactly sure that he could voice that hope. 

“What? You were hoping that what, I'd be happy? Because it turns out that all of a sudden I was allowed to be attracted to you?” 

“You were attracted to me?” 

“Damn it Merlin! You set me up for a story!” 

“No, I – I” 

“Just drop the act okay. I mean, every word out of your mouth has been a complete lie. I don't know you at all.” 

This wasn’t going how Merlin had envisaged at all. He started to panic. “Look, if we could just spend some time together. You could get to know me again. Wait, please, don't walk away.” 

“I just can't look at you the same way. I’m sorry Merlin.” 

All Merlin could do was stand there on the steps, feeling completely and utterly forlorn as he watched Arthur walk away from him. 

(~*~)

The walk home from the dance was horrible and Merlin spent the whole time turning over every single event of the evening in excruciating detail. Considering that he was still wearing his costume, he had also received numerous jeers and taunts from passing motorists. Nothing had gone how he had planned it to with Arthur and he was fairly certain that he had ruined the assignment as well. His first assignment as a reporter and he had pretty much blown it. He was doomed to be a copy-editor forever. Now all he wanted to do was curl up under the covers with Mordred and just hide from the world forever. Or at least hide until Morgana came to drag him out and berate him for being pathetic. He turned onto his street and couldn’t help the feeling of relief that washed over him as he saw Gwaine waiting outside his house, even if said relief was accompanied by confusion as to why Gwaine was stood outside when he had a key to get in. 

“Gwaine.” 

“Hey Merlin. I came by to check on you. I was worried about you.” 

“Really?” Gwaine’s words meant the world to Merlin. The fact that there was somebody who didn’t hate him buoyed his hope that he might not have destroyed everything, only for that hope to be completely dashed by Gwaine’s next words. 

“No, not really. Not really, Merlin. How could you do this to me? I helped you. I got you everything you wanted. How do you repay me? By blowing everything two days before the championship!” 

“I wasn't even thinking.” 

“No you weren't. Did it ever occur to you that the only time I've been happy in the past five years is when I'm playing ball, when I'm part of a team? Merlin, it's not even about playing. I taught those guys things. I helped 'em. My life had meaning.” 

“I ...” 

“Just forget about it. It's over. Back to the Tiki Post. Totally lame.” 

There was nothing that Merlin could say. All he could do was watch as Gwaine walked away from him. Upset because of something that Merlin had done. 

~*~

 Merlin flinched as Leon slammed a paper down on the desk in front of him, Merlin’s own face staring up at him from the front page.

“Merlin Emrys blows his cover. And we were scooped. We’ve got nothing. Merlin, you completely and totally screwed both of us.

“Maybe I could talk to Alined. Tell him the whole story?” 

“No, I’ll tell you a story. Okay? It’s about this shy copy-editor who makes a total idiot of him and his boss when he makes a complete mess of his first assignment as a reporter.” 

“We are not screwed. Yes I made a mistake but we will have a story okay?” Merlin bit his lip, knowing that it wasn’t going to take much for the threatening tears to spill down his cheeks and hating himself for it. “You will have an amazing story.” 

He didn’t bother waiting for Leon to respond. Instead, he just grabbed his jacket and high-tailed it out of Leon’s office before he humiliated himself even further. If he had turned back, he would have seen Leon desperately shaking the magic 8 ball that lived on his desk in hope of a favourable response. 

(~*~)

 As he sat down at his laptop, Merlin was full of determination. He had promised Leon the best story and he had absolutely every intention of fulfilling that promise. He had already let the man down enough and he wasn't going to disappoint him again. He was going to write the story of his high school career and he knew exactly how to start.

_Someone once told me that, 'To write well, you have to write what you know'. Well here is what I know...  
_

_I am twenty-five years old and I have never really kissed a guy. A geek to the core, most of my childhood years were spent doing extra homework I requested from the teacher. High school was more of the same. Then, at seventeen, it seemed as if my luck was about to change. The cutest guy asked me to the senior prom. But it turned out he invited me as a cruel joke and I have never fully recovered. Yes, it is embarrassing to share this with the world but it would be hard to explain what I learned and how I learned it without sharing this humiliating history. I received an assignment, my first as a reporter, to go back to high school and find out about kids today. What I ended up finding was myself and that high school hasn't changed. There's still that one teacher who marches to her own drummer, those girls are still there – the ones who even as you grow up will remain the most beautiful girls you've ever seen close up, the smart kids who everyone else knew as the brains but I just knew as my soul mates, my teachers, my friends. And there's still that one guy, with his mysterious confidence, who seems perfect in every way. The guy you get up and go to school for every morning. South Glen would not have been the same without him. High school would not have been the same without him. I would not have been the same without him._

As he typed, Merlin couldn't believe how cathartic this was. All the time he was writing, there was a little voice in the back of his mind reminding him that people were going to be reading this. Actual people, not just people like Gwaine and Morgana who knew how miserable his time at high school had been, maybe not all of the details but enough, but people who didn't have a clue who he was. He acknowledged that little voice but decided that he would deal with the fall-out when, and if, it came. 

_I lived a lifetime of regret after my first high school experience and now, after my second, my regrets are down to one. A certain teacher was hurt on my path to self-discovery and although this article may serve as a step, it in no way makes up for what I did to him. To this man, you know who you are, I am so sorry and I would like to add one more thing … I think I am in love with you. And so I propose this. As an ending to this article and perhaps a beginning to the next chapter of my life I, Merlin Emrys, will be at the state championship baseball game where my friends, the South Glen Rams, are playing for the title. I will stand on the pitcher’s mound for the five minutes prior to the first pitch. If this man accepts my apology, I ask him to come kiss me, for my first real kiss._

Even having finished the article and submitting it to one of the other copy editors having had Gwaine, Morgana and Leon read it over for him first, it still hadn't quite sunk in to Merlin just how huge his story had the potential to be. On any normal day, the Sun-Times already had a huge readership but when you factored in that Merlin's face had appeared in several other newspapers when it was revealed that Merlin was actually an undercover reporter and not a high school student, the interest in this story was absolutely huge. Still, none of this occurred to Merlin until the day that his article went to print. The journey to work couldn’t have been more surreal. It seemed as though everywhere he went, people of all ages and all walks of life were reading _his_ article. 

He was maybe half-way to work when he stopped at his favourite little coffee shops for breakfast and his much needed second coffee of the day. He had given the cashier his order and was stood to one side waiting for it to be ready when he was recognised for the first time. The woman stood behind him in the queue suddenly squealed that he was the one who had written the article, the one who was in love with the teacher. Merlin stood there blushing like a tomato as she raved about how much she had loved his article, how sweet it was and how she felt for him. He had never been more relieved when his order number was shouted and he could escape. Just as he was brushing past the woman in question in order to leave the shop, she grabbed hold of his arm and spoke again. 

“Best of luck dear. I hope your young man turns up and kisses you. If he doesn't, he's an idiot.” 

That single woman set the tone for the rest of Merlin's journey to work; for the rest of the journey people that he didn't know, just random people that he walked past, were stopping to tell him how much they enjoyed his article and wishing him luck with everything, something that buoyed his confidence. And that was something that he desperately needed. 

~*~

Standing on the baseball field, Merlin did his best to not be dazzled by the flashes of light coming from the reporter’s cameras. He had known that his article was going to get a fair bit of attention but he hadn’t thought that it would get this much attention. He had been nervous before but this had made things ten times worse. He took a deep breath and swallowed heavily. He might as well get things moving. No point in putting things off forever. 

“Thank you all for coming.” He gave a small smile but then wasn’t really sure what else to say to them. 

“Merlin!” 

He heard his name being whispered loudly and darted towards Morgana and Gwen in relief. 

“There are so many people here.” He fumbled out blindly and grabbed hold of both of their hands, needing to be grounded. Needing the reassurance, which both women happily provided for him. 

“It's going to be great Merlin. They're behind you. They feel as if they know you.” 

“It's so romantic what you're doing and they'll be a part of it.” 

There was Gwen. Ever the romantic, especially now that she had tentatively started dating Lancelot. 

“Well I’m glad that you guys are!” And Merlin desperately meant that. One of the few things that Merlin didn’t regret about this whole experience was meeting Gwen and, despite her reputation as a bitch, Morgana had been Merlin’s rock throughout this whole experience and a true friend ever since they had met. 

“Jesus Emrys, I had no idea there'd be this many TV crews here. You've held up your end of the bargain. Now I want you to get out there and get him.” 

As the coach finished talking he slapped Merlin on the arse and turned his attention to his team. Merlin paused and took another deep breath before he squared his shoulders and walked out towards the pitcher’s mound. He was more than a little unnerved by the amount of noise that suddenly arose from the stands and amid cheers and whoops, he could hear people cheering his own name. There were people waving banners and posters for the teams that would be playing fairly soon but there were an equal number of banners emblazoned with Merlin’s name. It all seemed very real and very scary. And, not for the first time, he started wondering if this was a good idea. 

“Thank you. Erm, may I have five minutes on the clock please?” 

The numbers appeared on the clock and the seconds slowly started ticking away. Merlin’s hand clenched convulsively around the microphone, his other waving a little awkwardly at the crowds. The five minutes was going incredibly fast. Too fast. Certainly too fast for nothing to be happening. As the seconds slipped into single digits, he could feel himself choking up. 

“ _Five, four, three, two, one!_ ” 

The last few seconds on the clock ticked away until all that was left was a series of zeros. Whereas previously the whole stadium had been filled with a wall of sound, now you could hear a pin drop. Merlin couldn’t believe it. He had thought that maybe his article would make a difference, would make Arthur think twice and at least listen to Merlin. He could feel the tears spring to his eyes and bit his lip in an attempt to stop them from spilling over and rolling down his cheeks. The mortification he had felt on the night of his senior prom was nothing compared to this. At least on that particular evening, his utter embarrassment hadn’t been caught on camera and watched by hundreds of people. The microphone dropped from his hand yet Merlin still stood rooted to the spot in the centre of the pitch. Although he desperately wanted to run as far away from here as he possibly could, Merlin couldn’t seem to get his legs to cooperate. 

But then the players were starting to look shifty and he knew that he had to move so that they could start the game. Just as he gave a little shrug and was about to move, all of a sudden there was a huge surge in noise that rippled through the crowd. Everybody seemed to be standing up and trying to see what was going on. Merlin himself didn’t have a clue, despite his attempts to see what all the fuss was about. Finally, he saw what everybody was staring at, what all of the noise was about. 

Arthur. 

Arthur was actually here. He was jogging down the stairs in the stands that led down to the pitch, his gaze seemingly fixed on Merlin. Then he was being let through the gate that separated the crowd from the pitch and jogging across the space towards Merlin. Merlin was positive that the crowd was making a huge noise but he couldn’t hear it over the roaring in his ears as his heart beat so fast he thought it was going to burst out of his chest. 

And then Arthur was in front of him, mere inches away, and Merlin’s brain stuttered to a stop because Arthur was kissing him. He acted purely on instinct, kissing back. His arms slowly crept up until they were wrapped around Arthur’s neck. Merlin allowed Arthur complete control, revelling in the fact that he was finally receiving his first kiss and it was Arthur and it was perfect. Merlin startled at the feel of Arthur licking at the seam of his lips and was momentarily confused before he realised what Arthur intended and opened his mouth, allowing Arthur entrance. They only pulled apart when Merlin’s lungs were screaming for air and his head was spinning. 

“Sorry I'm late. It took me forever to get here.” 

Arthur's smile was sheepish but despite everything, Merlin had never found him more attractive. 

“I know what you mean.” 

Then Merlin couldn’t say anything else because Arthur was kissing him again. He was completely and utterly wrapped up in Arthur. He didn’t see Morgana and Leon kissing, _finally_ , in the stands or Gwaine stood in the dugout as assistant couch. He didn’t care about the players running out to their places around them. Nothing but Arthur mattered.  He finally had the man that he wanted. The man that he wanted finally wanted him. He might have had to wait until he was twenty-five for his first ever kiss but it had been more than worth it. It just proved that the old proverb was right. 

Good things really did come to those who waited.

 


End file.
